


Est Magicae Ligatis

by MaybeItWasMemphis



Series: The Quarantine Diaries [3]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Bonding, F/M, Romance, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-01
Updated: 2020-12-01
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:26:41
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,385
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27811468
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MaybeItWasMemphis/pseuds/MaybeItWasMemphis
Summary: You try to save Snape’s life after the final battle…and somehow find yourself trapped in the past and faced with an unexpected choice.
Relationships: Severus Snape/Reader
Series: The Quarantine Diaries [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2029843
Comments: 5
Kudos: 64





	Est Magicae Ligatis

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: No. I don’t own it. I don’t even have respect for the author anymore. She made amazing characters. Her OPINIONS are bigoted and suck…hard.

_“But the one who endures to the end will be saved.”_

**~ Matthew 24:13**

You hadn't meant for it to happen. As the Hogwarts librarian, you weren't dumb, but you also hadn't been Professor Snape's best student when you were at school. Plus, after the final battle with Voldemort, Snape's potion stores had been in chaos and you had been both exhausted and in extreme grief. Many of your friends had fallen. Fred Weasley had only been half a hallway away from you when he had gone down. Lee Thomas had been fighting right beside you. The three of you (four when you counted George) had been in the same boat upon your first arrivals at Hogwarts. You had been friends ever since, even though you had gone to Ravenclaw while the boys had gone to Gryffindor. When you had encountered Potter after the battle and he had told you about Snape and what had happened in the Shrieking Shack, you knew that you had to see it to believe it. Something had told you that there was something off about the way Snape had acted as Headmaster. He was too fair and wasn't as cruel as a Death Eater was supposed to be. You had grabbed a bottle of what you thought was a blood replenishing potion and a few others that you knew could prove useful out of Snape's stores. Making your way past body upon body that lay upon the Hogwarts grounds, you make the short walk to the Shrieking Shack. You were startled when you saw Snape's pale and motionless body on the ground. Reaching down, you felt for a pulse. To your utter amazement, you found one. It was weak, almost non-existent, but it was there.

You looked around you and saw the pool of blood all over the ground. Digging into the pocket of your robes, you grabbed the blood replenishing potion and pulled the cork out with your teeth. Kneeling down beside him, you found a gaping wound on Snape's neck. Casting a stasis charm to contain the bleeding, you poured the potion down his throat. Then, you were nearly blinded by a white light as the world around you began to spin.

***

You had blacked out. When you came to, you were no longer in the Shrieking Shack. You were back at Hogwarts, somewhere in the dungeons.

"Back from the dead, I see."

You would know that deep, lazy baritone drawl anywhere. Sitting up off of the black leather sofa you came face to face with Severus Snape...sort of. You were obviously in his chambers, but this was not your Snape. For one, he was completely unharmed, and you knew that with the kind of injury he had sustained that was impossible. Magic could only do so much. Second, this Severus Snape had to be at least ten to fifteen years younger than the one you knew. He actually looked like he had when you had been a first year.

"Fuck," you cursed. What the hell had you done?

"My thoughts exactly. What have you done? And who exactly are you?" Snape stood in front of where you now sat with his arms crossed over his chest.

You had forgotten that he knew Legilimency and you were shite at Occlumency when your late father attempted to teach you.

"My name's y/n. I'm the Hogwarts librarian in the year 1998." You were honest. It wasn't like you had much of a choice. He'd just probe your mind to get the answers he wanted. "You were...hurt." You tried not to be too exact because you didn't want to screw up the timeline. "I used a blood replenishing potion on you...and here we are."

Snape smirked and nodded. "I see. And how was I injured?"

"Snake bite."

"How poetic. The Dark Lord?"

"It was his doing, yes. He was defeated right after." You shook your head. "I know you can see into my mind, but you have to know it's dangerous for me to tell you much more."

"The blood replenishing potion, you took it from my stores?" He stepped back and took a seat in the wingback chair across from the sofa.

You simply nodded.

"And before you administered it, you used your magic on me, didn't you?" This version of Snape was more arrogant than the man that you knew.

You were starting to have a real bad feeling in the pit of your stomach. "Yes."

"Then I guess I owe you my gratitude...and my life." Both his face and his tone were oddly expressionless.

"Care to explain?" Your anxiety was quickly forcing you to lose your patience.

"Since I took up my post here at Hogwarts, I've hidden a lifeline or two should I ever have need for them. Hidden in that potion bottle was a little something of my own creation. When combined with the magic of another, it creates a magical teether."

"Teether?" You were confused because you felt no different than you had back in your own time.

"My magic is now bound to yours. If within the next seven days, you choose to accept the bond, you'll be taken back to your own time where you will find me, if not whole, then at least alive." Snape was speaking so casually about his own fate that it jarred you.

"And if I don't accept the bond?" You wanted to know what the worst-case scenario was going to be.

"You will still return to your own time in seven days, but I will likely be dead." He was now speaking too casually about his own death. You basically held his life in the palm of your hand, and he seemed completely okay with it.

"I don't want you to die," you shook your head. "I don't ever want to see you like that again. The things you did to protect Harry Potter, Hogwarts, its students, and its staff – you were a hero. You deserved better than what happened to you." Tears started pooling in your eyes.

"That's an awfully idealistic way to look at me, Miss y/l/n."

Your eyes shot up to meet his amused ones. You hadn't told him your last name. "It's 1989."

"I'm a first year," you realized.

Snape nodded. "Hogwarts own little know-it-all bookworm."

You chuckled. "I have a friend who will be along soon enough to steal that title."

"A little swot worse than you? That's mildly disturbing." Severus Snape was teasing you...and not in a cruel way.

"Professor Snape?" You said for a lack of anything better to say. You were confused and still exhausted.

He got to his feet. "It's late and you need to rest. I'll bring you a book tomorrow explaining the magic behind our bond so that you may make an informed decision." He gestured for you to lay back down and conjured up a blanket to cover you up. "I'm afraid I'll have to restrict you to my chambers while you're here. A time quarantine if you will. Can't have past and present running into one another.

***

Your reading the next day had proven to be embarrassingly insightful. After reading about how the bond was completed and the consequences of the completion, you hadn't been able to look Snape in the eye the next evening when he brought you dinner.

"Judging by the flush in your cheeks, you've gotten to the good part." He was smirking when he set the tray containing your meal on the sitting room table. "Fear not, Miss y/l/n. I'm not holding you to anything." He smirked as he again sat across from you in what you were starting to suspect was his favorite chair.

"You are entirely too accepting of your own death," you shot back.

Snape shrugged. "I've earned it."

"Because of the Dark Mark on your arm?" You raised an eyebrow. It pissed you off how okay he was with dying. "Or because you told the Dark Lord about the prophecy that led to the death of Lily Potter? Maybe you still regret the day you called her a mudblood? I know more about you than you want me to know, Severus Snape, and I still don't believe that you deserve to die. Our world still needs you. Hogwarts still needs you. The only reason I'm unsure about whether or not to go through with the bond is because I don't want to trap you."

Snape looked like you had struck him. "Trap me? What are you on about, woman?"

"You don't even know I'm alive in the future. You were my teacher for seven years and my co-worker for one. You've still never had so much as a conversation with me." You tried to will yourself not to cry. "Everything I really know about you is secondhand from Harry Potter. According to the book, if we go through with the bond, you'll be bound to me for the rest of your life. We'll be the kind of married that you can't take back."

"Have you stopped to consider the fact that since you've already broken the timeline, my behavior may be because of that?" Snape countered. "Perhaps I stay away to keep my young wife safe until she remembers or learns that's what she is?"

He had a valid point. "That...does sound like a very you thing to do," you conceded. "I just couldn't bear to be my husband's burden. I also want a family. By the end of the war, I'd lost everyone. You detest children."

"I detest other peoples ill-behaved and coddled children, I'll admit," Snape acknowledged. "But seeing as no child of mine will be raised to behave that way, I wouldn't mind one or two of my own."

You had not expected that response. Not by a longshot. "What about my other concern? I don't fancy the idea of being your unwanted wife."

"I'm not about to profess my undying love for you," he replied dryly.

"I wasn't asking you to," you snapped, feeling yourself blush.

"Would you let me finish?" Snape snapped right back.

Like the Hogwarts student you once were, you were suddenly terrified into silence.

"Thank you," he smirked. You know, back in 1998, you had secretly thought that smirk was incredibly sexy. Now it made you want to curse him back into the time of the Founders Four. "As I was saying. I am not in love with you. You cannot fault me for that. Here, in this time, you are still a child and it is my job to teach and protect you, not lust after you like a sick bastard. That doesn't mean that I can never love you. If, ten years from now, I'm still alive when you return, I'd be more than pleased to work on having a real marriage – with mutual trust and respect, fidelity, a family, and Merlin willing, hopefully, love one day. That's all I can promise you right now, y/n."

Your heart warmed at the same time that it sped up as a gaggle of fairies took up residence in the pit of your stomach. "Alright," you whispered, looking up and meeting his gaze. "I'll accept the bond."

Snape seemed genuinely surprised. "Are you sure? You said it yourself. We will be the kind of married that you can't take back."

You took a deep breath and nervously swallowed before you answered. "You just spoke of us trusting one another, so, I'll be honest with you like you just were with me. After the final battle with You-Know-Who everyone thought you were already dead. Harry didn't believe you can have survived Nagini's attack. You may not pay attention to me in my time, but I pay attention to you. I always have. I care about you. I lost some of my closest friends in that battle, but it was the thought of you being dead that gutted me the most. I went looking for you the second I learned what had happened and where you were. If I couldn't save you, I at least wanted to bring your body home to Hogwarts. I care about you," you repeated. "And I've always thought you were attractive. I've fancied you since...next year actually. I believe we could make our marriage work. So, yes, I want to do it."

He smiled. Severus Snape actually smiled at you. "I'll admit, you're certainly not uneasy on the eyes." That was high praise indeed coming from him. "If you're certain," he gave a curt nod of his head.

***

Your first time wasn't unpleasant, but, with a lack of emotional attachment, it seemed like more of a magical ritual, which, to be fair, it was. You had barely gotten your breath back when Snape (were you supposed to call him 'Severus' now?) left the bed. You were silent as you watched him dress. Opening his wardrobe, he retrieved a black silk nightshirt, and walked over to hand it to you.

"Come along, wife," he wouldn't look at you as he spoke. "You'll be departing soon and there are some things that I want to know before that happens."

***

"Are you sure it's wise for me to tell you these things?" You were nervous to go along with Snape's plan. Everything you had ever read or been taught about time travel told you that this was a very bad idea. "Awful things have happened to wizards who have meddled with time."

"I'm not just any wizard." For the first time since you had left his bed, Snape looked at you.

You were seated on the edge of the sofa, a quill in your hand, and a blank piece of parchment on the sitting room table in front of you.

"Trust me, y/n. I promise you this can only fix things, not make them worse."

Dipping the quill into the ink well, you started to write. Everything you knew about what led up to Voldemort's defeat, you wrote down. When you were down, you set the quill down. "This is all I know for sure." You slid the parchment towards him.

"The Dark Lord revealed himself to be back at the Ministry of Magic? He was never subtle." If Snape was surprised by what he read, he didn't show it. "Go and get dressed. You'll be returning to the future soon."

As you did as he told you, you couldn't help but worry that he had lied to you. Sure, he wasn't bad in bed, but had turned indifferent and distant towards you since you had consummated the bond. How was he ever going to love you if he acted like you didn't matter on what was, for all intents and purposes, your wedding night?

He was standing just outside the bedroom door when you finished getting dressed. Your shock at his presence was quickly replaced with your shock at being pulled into his arms.

"Prof –"

He silenced you with a kiss. "You're my wife, y/n." There was a slight amusement hidden in his tone. "You should probably call me Severus."

"You are so bloody confusing, Severus. I was starting to think you hated me." You reached up and tentatively wrapped your arms around his neck.

"It's difficult allowing one's self to get attached to a beautiful woman who will not exist for another ten years after this night." Severus held you a little tighter.

"It's difficult going back not knowing how you feel about all of this in the future," you countered.

Severus actually smiled as opposed to smirking. "I seriously doubt that you have any cause to worry, my dear."

***

Time snatched you to take you back home without any warning. You were not a fan of time travel. That much you were sure of. When you arrived back in your time, you weren't 100% sure you were in your time. You were in the Shrieking Shack, but you appeared to be alone. Severus wasn't laying on the floor beside you. There was no blood anywhere to be found.

"It's been a very long time, wife."

You gasped and spun around on your still unsteady feet and came face to face with a perfectly unharmed Severus Snape. "It's only been a few minutes for me." You couldn't keep the slightly nervous smile off of your face. You were happy that he was alive but mildly terrified that he would reject you. After all, as he said, it had been a very long time for him.

"Come here," Severus demanded. His voice was firm but not harsh.

Tentatively, you obeyed. You walked to stand in front of where he stood in the shadows. You wanted to cry in relief when he put his hands on your hips and pulled you close. Leaning down, he whispered in your ear. "I've missed you far more than I thought I would, little witch." He placed a soft kiss just below your ear.

"The Dark Lord?" As happy as his affections made you, you needed to know how much of a mess you had made of time.

"Gone since the battle at the Department of Mysteries in 1996," Severus assured you. "We still lost Sirius Black and Albus Dumbledore and a fair few others, but there was no Battle of Hogwarts. Today is nothing more than a normal spring day, sweetheart."

You were starting to get choked up, but you needed to know one final thing. Your friends. "Fred Weasley and Lee Thomas, are they alive?"

"As far as I know." Severus held you tightly.

That was the moment you gave into your desire to weep. And Severus let you, holding you while you did so.

"As cozy as the Shrieking Shack is," Severus snarked, "I'd like to take my wife home."

Getting ahold of yourself, you nodded as you wiped your cheeks with your palm. "Where is home anywhere?" Your brain was foggy as new memories seemed to be materializing. You hadn't expect this symptom, but you probably should have.

"The headmaster's quarters at Hogwarts."

"You're the headmaster? Am I still the librarian?" You truly loved your job and would hate to lose it.

"Yes, and yes." He kissed your temple.

"And I live with you?" You were slowly remembering things from this new timeline. You remembered being the last staff hire made by Albus Dumbledore prior to his death. You remembered the downfall of Lord Voldemort in the Department of Mysteries. You had assisted Madam Pomfrey and Severus with caring for the survivors of the battle. You now remembered all of that, but you didn't remember living with Severus. While in this timeline, you had spent a fair bit more in his presence, he had still treated you like you didn't exist.

Severus smirked. "You do now that you know you're my wife."

"You still want to try?" You nervously bit your lip.

He shook his head, and your heart sank. "I do not need nor do I want to try," he explained. "I have had ten years without you. Ten years to fixate on the one night I got to spend with you as my wife. I've had ten years to watch you while you had no clue that I was doing so. I want my wife. I want you."

Your bottom lip began to tremble. "I want you too."

Severus leaned down and nuzzled his nose against yours. "May I take you to our home, Mrs. Snape?"

"Yes," you whispered right before his lips came down softly on yours.

***

Severus took you by the hand and apparated you to the gates of Hogwarts. You were once again moved to tears when you saw the school completely undamaged. The sun was slowly starting to set and carefree Hogwarts students were all heading for the castle as it was close to dinnertime.

"This is unbelievable," you whispered to yourself.

"This is all thanks to you, y/n." Severus held out his elbow. You took it, and the two of you made the walk up to the castle in a comfortable silence.

***

The headmaster's quarters were almost three times as large as your old rooms in the Astronomy Tower. There was no real decoration at work though, just furniture and the essentials. You found it a bit odd.

"When I move in here after the death of Dumbledore, I just brought the needed items." You stood in the sitting room as Severus wrapped his arms around your waist. "I figured I'd wait and leave the actual décor for you."

He really was serious about making a go of your marriage. He had been planning his life around you while he waited for the version of you that he had married.

"I'm growing rather tired of weeping today," you smiled up at him. "You really need to stop being so sweet to me."

"No." He swept down on you and stole your lips in a kiss that was much more passionate than the ones that had before it.

The way he kissed you had changed drastically. In 1989, his kiss was skilled but fueled more by attraction than anything else. Now you felt wanted and cherished as his lips moved against yours. It struck you that while you had gone only minutes without him, Severus had gone ten years. It sure seemed like your husband's feelings for you had changed in the decade since your bonding.

You forced yourself to pull away from the kiss. "What's changed? The Severus that I left in the past, the man that I bonded with – he was kind and gentle, but he was definitely not this keen on being with me."

Severus gave you a half-smile as he reached up to cup your jaw in his hand. "He hovered in the background of your life for ten years and watched as you grew into the woman who would one day be my wife. He almost murdered Lee Thomas for taking you to the Yule Ball. I told you that I missed you. I was being truthful. It got worse with every passing year. The older you got, the more I wanted my wife."

"Damn it," you cursed as a few stray tears managed to escape down your cheeks. "Crying appears to be my new hobby," you lamely joked.

"So long as you're only crying happy tears, I don't see a problem with this new hobby of yours." He wiped your cheeks with the pads of his thumbs. Then he surprised you by letting his hands travel down to your hips and picking up in a way that forced you to wrap your legs around his waist.

You squealed and giggled as you wrapped your around his neck. "I like this you," you told him as he carried you out of the sitting room and into the large bedroom. "I could get used to him."

"He only exists for you." He deposited you on the bed and moved to lay between your spread legs. He quickly kissed you. "I'm still the great bat of Hogwarts to everyone else." He pulled back so he could start stripping you of your clothes while you did the same thing for him.

This time, your lovemaking was much different than the first. The first time had been pleasurable but short and to the rather embarrassing point. This time, neither one of you was in any hurry. Now you both felt free to explore and memorize each other's reactions. This time, you both truly wanted it.

Your husband way more skill than he had originally let on and you were flushed and panting when Severus finally surfaced from between your thighs where he had been having way too much fun. He certainly hadn't gone down on your first time and now you felt kind of cheated. As he moved to rest in the cradle of your thighs, you made a mental note to ask him to teach you how to return the favor on him...next time.

"Are you on the potion?" Severus slowly rubbed himself against you, his cock slipping between your lower lips.

You moaned and shook your head in the negative.

"Do you want me to use the charm?"

You couldn't help but giggle. "You weren't this concerned with protection last time."

"This beautiful little witch dropped into my life out of the blue and agreed to marry me, of all people. I was thrown a bit off-balance." He rutted against her. "Now answer the question, wife. Do you want me to use the charm? Yes or no? This one is entirely up to you, my love. Whatever you want, I'll happily give you." He lightly brushed his lips against yours.

It was his use of the term 'my love' that made up your mind. He had never called you that before. And Severus wasn't one to say things that he did not mean.

Leaning up, you lightly nipped at his earlobe. "No charm," you whispered in his ear. "Take me, husband."

Pulling back, Severus lined himself up and sank into your warmth in one smooth stroke. You couldn't contain the breathless cry that left your lips. This felt a million times better than your first time. The feeling of him moving inside you was damn near addicting. Severus let his hands and lips run free on your body as you met him thrust for increasingly frantic thrust. You were so close. "Merlin, don't stop," you pleaded wantonly.

"Wouldn't dream of it." Severus' hand trailed down between your bodies and he used his thumb to lightly put pressure on your clit. "Come for me, little witch. I want to feel you, sweetheart."

"Fuck!" You fell apart at his words.

It was as you were coming back down to earth that departed it himself. "Y/n," he groaned into the skin of your neck as he emptied himself inside you.

Severus collapsed beside you and then pulled you to rest on his chest. "I love you, y/n," he whispered as he wrapped you snuggly in his arms.

Yeah, you had suspected that since almost the moment of your return. It's a good thing the feeling was mutual. "I love you too, Severus." You smiled and kissed his chest, right above his heart.

**_ FINIS _ **


End file.
